Keeping with the theme of increased productivity brought about by Spring season, here's to a good weekend! I touched up a couple tattoos on Thursday and Friday, then did a nice sized piece on Saturday. As simple as the cartoon design looks, it was a fun challenge and I was quite pleased with the outcome!

During *the wolf* touch up, we had a conversation about the younger generation being lazy and expecting everything handed them. She reminded me of the appreciation of hard work!.. being proud of getting something accomplished with some good ol' elbow juice.

This helped me gain a little zen in the art of lawn mowing on Sunday. Let's face it... mowing the lawn can be a pain in the ass. But instead of abhorring the situation, I tried to appreciate the work I was doing and take pride in a well mowed lawn. I concentrated on the most efficient way to produce a consistent mow... almost like each line in a tattoo. I thought about a buddy of mine who seems to ENJOY mowing the lawn and cutting clean, nice, rows and patterns into his yard.

I was brought back to the good ol' days of a hard day's work, building up an appetite, and earning the right to rest and relax. Afterwards, I had one of my most enjoyable motorcycle rides I've had in a while... watching the sun set over the mountains, trees, and a nearby lake. Rode home and ate a delicious dinner prepared by my loving wife as we watched the NBA playoffs. Can't really ask for much more!!

Life's beautiful when you can sit back and enjoy the simple things.

Other highlights of the weekend include a good conversation with my mom, two good movies with my wife (Grizzly Man and Biutiful), another movie solo (Fresh... about the the industrialized farm industry vs organic and free range), a bunch of playoff basketball, SUN, and much needed quiet time.

Did a carabao and some traditional Filipino script on an old buddy o' mine.

My cousin came in to touch up a flower and to cover up some script. Here's the before and after.

Another day, another foot tattoo! Here's one that's a little different... a tribal dragon and some cherry blossoms on the side of the foot. I dig the placement!

Here's an in progress half sleeve koi. It worked out great that we didn't finish the line work in the first session and left the inner arm open... which allowed us to agree on the idea of a chrysanthemum. One more session should do it!

Business is starting to pick up, slowly but surely. In the meantime, I gotta get outa this winter hibernation funk and gets ta woik! I need to keep drawing, painting, improving and learning AND I gotta get back into shape!

I just got a bicycle for the health and exercise aspect! I'm not the type of person who can sit on an exercise bike or run on a treadmill... I gotta be movin'! My main form of exercise throughout the years has been basketball, but this bike will be a nice additional to the regimen.

I revamped the home studio and I'm ready to rock and/or roll. Hopefully "and." Photos you ask? Sure...

I've got a few in progress tattoos that I'm finishing up, a few new ones lined up, and a few that I need to get off my @$$ and do some drawings for. The bright orb in the sky (the sun) is coming back to wake me up a bit, so hopefully it will do the same for others. SPRING! My engineering dorkiness just made think of how fitting the word "spring" is for the season... potential and kinetic energy. We've been storing up energy all winter, to be used NOW!.. like a compressed spring, ready to bounce!

WAKE UP!Get to work! Learn something! DO something! Start a new hobby! Sign up for a class you always wanted to take! Don't just be stagnant and complacent! Set a goal and do what it takes to achieve it! It'll feel amazing!.. trust me!

OK... that's enough soap box-iness and exclamation points. How about a shameless plug? The wife and I will be visiting the Bay Area in early June, tentatively the 8th - 17th. If you'd like to get a tattoo, contact me at chris@lanzontattoo.com I drew up this little ad/flyer thing last night since folks seem to react more to colors and pictures than random text. You're probably not even reading this right now. Yes, the bear's farting.

Here's a little sneak peak of the latest flash sheet I've been painting. I should be able to finish it tonight and get full pics up tomorrow...

I'm pretty proud of it, so far, and proof of one of my strong beliefs of a couple keys to success... ability and drive. I believe there's such a thing as natural talent, but the most successful are those who possess this talent and have the drive to harness it and put to use. An easy example of this is well known athletes... my sport is basketball. Players who come to mind are Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. These two dudes had a great gift already, but they also put in the work to make themselves the best they can be. An example of ability with low drive is a person like Allen Iverson. Dude had all kinds of ability but, "Practice? We talkin' 'bout practice? Maaaan... this is just practice! Practice?!" Then there's a ton of players who don't have that superstar ability, but they work hard to reach their potential... maybe like a Tim Duncan. He's got size, sure, but not the most athletic dude on the court. You can tell he puts in the work to master his moves and bank shot.It doesn't always come easy, but the work you put in leads to growth, learning, and strides toward reaching your potential. If you think I'm just talking some bullshit, here's a horse from my first ever flash sheet, painted about three years ago...

There's obviously a stark difference and it didn't come overnight. Three years ago, I was nowhere near my full potential and I knew it. I still don't know how far my potential will reach, but I know I'm going to continue to push it and test it. It's actually pretty funny, but at the same time rewarding, to look back on this first sheet and see how horrible it was and how far I've come. Just gotta keep driving forward!Anyways... enough rambling. Thanks for reading.PEACE!

This one took me a while. The boss said to draw up a calf piece... anything you want. I had a blank canvas for a while and was finally inspired by a visit to a nearby temple. I decided on one of the Buddha statues and added some flames around it. Below, you will see the evolution of reference photo to linework, thru B&G shading and color selection... it's just missing a few pictures of the linework, shading and complete tattoo on someone's leg. That leg can be yours! Contact me with tattoo ideas and let's put it on ya!

The list of difficult things to do from the last photo also caught my attention. Here it is...1. It's difficult to gain complete wisdom and apply it in all aspects of life2. It's difficult to subdue self-pride3. It's difficult to not look down on the less knowledgeable4. It's difficult to keep the thoughts and actions of treating people fairly5. It's difficult not to gossip about others6. It's difficult to find and follow a worthy spiritual teacher7. It's difficult to gain insight into one's true self and practice the Way8. It's difficult to guide someone based on their unique circumstances9. It's difficult to not let your mind be moved by the surrounding environment10. It's difficult to apply the correct means when helping othersTrue.Thanks for reading. Peace.

I'm not talkin' 'bout a high five here... I'm looking for folks to tattoo! In the meantime, I've been working on a few flash practice pieces and a couple original designs. A long break between posts = a long post. I wouldn't blame you for just perusing the pictures... I'm not much of a reader, myself. Here goes...

The boss tasked me to design a forearm tattoo for a guy and a lower back tattoo for lady. I came up with the "No Rain, No Gain" idea a while back, upon our move to the rainy Northwest. Of course, the skull represents a reminder of death and, in turn, to make the most of life. The cherry blossoms do the same, but in a more beautiful way. They represent the transience of life, as they fall from the tree while still in bloom. There is no life without water... "April showers bring May flowers" hence, "No Rain, No Gain." It also means something personal to me, as I couldn't get where I am now without making this move back home. Of course it goes without saying, "rain" is interchangeable with "pain" in this statement. There's definitely been some growing pains and life changes of late, but gross changes eventually get smoothed out. I came up with a metaphor between life and wood carving:

Sometimes, if you don't like how the carving is turning out, you gotta grab the chisel or saw and make some major changes. It might look ugly for a bit or it might not even resemble what you're trying to carve, but you eventually get down to the finer grit sandpaper and smooth it out the way you like it. Now other times, there are mistakes you make or outside forces come by and put a dent in your piece of "life wood" we'll call it. If it happened, it happened and you can't make it UN-happen... all you can do is grab that chisel or sandpaper and keep shaping. The main thing is that you have the ability to shape it the way you want it. Enough babble... here's the picture.

If someone were to want to get this tattooed, I would re-align the lettering.

The lower back piece I came up with is a scarab beetle emerging from a lotus with a Tibetan flame and some Tibetan clouds used to accentuate the hips. The scarab beetle and the lotus have somewhat similar meanings. In ancient Egypt, the scarab represented resurrection or rebirth, since the beetles emerged from the dung where the eggs were laid. The lotus can be found as a symbol in many cultures, representing the triumph of spirit over matter, since it emerges perfectly from muddy waters, seeking the enlightenment of the sun. Also, since the flower retreats back into the water during hours of darkness, it also represented death and rebirth to the Egyptians. The flame represents the renewal and purification of the fire... passion. Of course, this is just a high level summary and the symbols carry much more weight than I care to write and you probably care to read. You're probably not even reading this right now. You're probably just looking at the picture below. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.

These last few are taken from flash, so I don't have as much vested interest in them... hence, they get thumbnailed.

I'd be more than happy to tattoo any of these designs or work with you on coming up with your own personal tattoo. Let me know!

On a side note, I'm helping an old friend out with his short film called The Loop. I can't remember if I mentioned it in a prior post or not. Either way... check it out and support, if you feel so inclined.

I've had a few dicussions lately about finding the right balance between everything that's going on in your life. I've also heard the terms "juggling" or "having a full plate" used for the same metaphor. Whether it's keeping all the balls in the air or keeping the arms of the scale level, I seem to like throwing another ball into the mix every now and then, just to keep myself challenged.Everybody has their own plates or scales, but for me, this includes (in no particular order) wife, family, friends, work, shop, drawing, house work, exercise, alone sanity time, reading, and the latest addition of my Sand Flea. I stay pretty busy, but looking at the list, I feel like I should add community work or volunteering of some sort... in the future, perhaps.Anyways... the point of this post is that I feel like I'm getting back on track with a few balls that may have dropped. Shop time and drawing have picked back up... I did a practice skin Philippine Sun and Stars which will hopefully go on my cousin and finished coloring that reproduction flash piece. I'll have to find the black and gray picture I took before I colored. Now that the Lakers lost (in a disturbingly horrendous fashion), I definitely need to pick up the exercise ball that got dropped and get that back into the mix.It's all about being conscious enough to keep the scale balanced. If you fall asleep, the balls drop."WAKE UP!" <-- This reminder is tattooed on my wrist, thanks to Mr. Chad Koeplinger. "WAKE UP!" can mean a lot of things. It can mean to stay conscious. Stay present and aware. Don't be a zombie! Life's too short to let it slip away doing things you don't enjoy doing. Take those things off the scale and throw those balls out. Let 'em drop. Pick up more important and meaningful ones. I'm rambling... it tends to happen sometimes. Hopefully you get my point. Peace and thanks for reading!

Today, I learned a valuable lesson... now that I'm trying to take this new path, my hands have become WAY more important to me. If I can't hold a machine or a pencil, I won't be able to make money! They've become my livelihood. Luckily, this minor finger jam won't impact my grip... but the lesson has been noted. Gotta be careful with these things!That being said, no more reaching in when players are driving strong to the bucket. And I probably don't want to have a run in with the mafia either.